Isner just too strong on serve vs. Mannarino

Wednesday

Jul 10, 2013 at 7:25 PM

NEWPORT — John Isner finally played Adrian Mannarino in the second round of a tennis tournament.Except that it was the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships at the Newport Casino on Wednesday, not The Championships...

By MIKE SZOSTAK

NEWPORT — John Isner finally played Adrian Mannarino in the second round of a tennis tournament.

Except that it was the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships at the Newport Casino on Wednesday, not The Championships at the All England Club at Wimbledon two weeks ago.

As he usually does, Isner, seeded second, rode his big serve to a 6-0, 7-6 (7) victory as wisps of mist began to swirl through the stadium. He fired 13 aces and cranked serves that reached 137 mph. His serve at match point hit 131 mph.

Isner, the 6-foot-9 28-year-old from Tampa, and Mannarino, the 25-year-old lefty from Soizy, France, were on the court in the second round at Wimbledon when Isner had to retire after two games because of a sudden sharp pain in his left knee. Tests were negative; he returned home, rested and resumed training.

He won his first-round match here in straight sets and needed only 15 minutes to blitz Mannarino in the first set of their match. Mannarino won only 4 of the 29 points, none on Isner’s serve.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever bageled someone in my professional career,” Isner said. “I knew the second set was going to be tougher. I mean, look at the stats. He served 23 percent. He’s not going to win the set serving like that. It’s pretty bad on his part, no offense. He’d say the same thing. But he’s a very god player, and a very good player on grass, and he picked it up in the second set, but my serve carried me through.”

There were no break points in the second set. Isner got the first mini-break for a 2-1 lead in the tiebreaker when Mannarino drove a forehand out. Mannarino got it back on Isner’s serve on the next point when his forehand approach hit the net cord and crawled over. Isner answered with a 137-mph ace for a 3-2 lead and went up 4-2 with a backhand return down the line that Mannarino netted. Mannarino broke back to 4-4 with a spectacular, and lucky, shot. He launched a lob that Isner sent back with an overhead blast to the ad corner. Mannarino hit a running forehand just before crashing into the fence on the east side of the court. His ball clipped net cord, passed Isner and landed just inside the baseline. The Frenchman knew he had lucked out and smiled at his good fortune.

“If he doesn’t make that shot I go up 5-3 instead of 4-all, and it’s a completely different tiebreaker,” Isner said later. On court, he responded with another 137-mph ace for a 5-4 lead. Mannarino went ahead 6-5 with a backhand pass for a winner; Isner saved the set point with an ace and hit a service winner for a 7-6 lead. Mannarino saved that match point with an overhead winner, but put himself in a big hole by double faulting, long and into the net.

Serving at 8-7, Isner crushed a 131-mph delivery. Mannarino sent it back, but out.

Isner hit four aces in the tiebreaker. He is 11-0 in breakers while running his recent Newport record to 12-0.

“When it comes down to a tiebreaker, it’s just one point, they can slip up and the set’s over,” he said. “They got to play very solid to win a tiebreaker against me. Today was the same thing. He made a few mistakes. He double-faulted at 7-all. . . . That’s all it takes.”

Next up for the 19th-ranked two-time defending champ is 6-10 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, who is 2-1 against Isner.

“His big weapon is his serve . . . but I also serve well. This certainly could be a match that could come down to just a point here or there.”